Frozen screen/BDOS in CS GO - Acer Predator Helios PH317-53

archon88

Hey guys!

I've recently just purchased my first gaming laptop, an acer predator helios 300 with 9750h, 16 gb in dual channel, rtx 2060, 500 SSD and 1 TB HDD combo.

I am really happy about this product, and it performs beyond my expectations in most games, but I am running into some problems with CS go.

After 10-18 rounds, my screen gets frozen, only the sound continues, eventually leading up to a BSOD with the following error: VIDEO_DXGKRNL_FATAL_ERROR.

I have tried updating windows, .net, performing a clear install of the nvidia drivers,directx and the game.

The temperatures are more than fine, and so is the performance. This has never occurred to me while doing anything else on this computer, and I can run anything else for hours with no issue.

Commodore_1995#

For some notebook models, acer has released firmware for the rtx2060 video card as well, see: https://www.acer.com/ac/pt/BR/content/support-product/7905?b=1&pn=NH.Q50AA.001

archon88

XdxD said:

Out of my ideas. By the way, do you use any apps to modify mouse properties/show temperature during gameplay?In 1903, there's some problems with MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner Statistics. Last time I got a BSOD during a game was because of my mouse's companion program.

I'm only steelseries engine for my mouse


I had the good idea of contacting nVidia support and with the help of Shailendra, I followed these steps:
nVidia Control panel -> global settings
Power management mode – prefer maximum performance
• Ambient Occlusion – Off
• Triple buffering – off
• Threaded optimization - ON
• Vertical Sync – Off

I have succesfully completed 2 SC2 matches, a 47 minute one and a 11 minute one as well as a CS:GO match where the enemy team surrendered after only 11 rounds, but this is a new record for the moment.

I will confirm later on if this provided a permanent solution to my issue.

Commodore_1995#

What is the exact model of your notebook? Example an515-51-75kz. There is firmware available for the nvidia rtx2060 graphics card.

aceerfan

You can try updating your drivers/windows which hopefully will help solve your issue:

1. Before you begin make sure you create a restore point. This is a very important! (Search YourTube for How-To)
  -Also important make sure you update Windows 10 to the latest version! (Search YourTube for How-To)
  -You can skip this and try updating your drivers first if you believe your issue is cause by old drivers. if you're unsure then just create a restore point in case anything goes wrong with windows update. (Again search YourTube for How-To)

2. For graphics driver:
  i) Download DDU (Google Display Driver Uninstaller)
  ii) If you have a Nvidia/AMD GPU. Download Nvidia/AMD dirvers from Nvidia official website. (Refer to your device manager for your GPU model-Search YourTube for How-To)
  iii) Download Intel graphics driver from Intel official website (Refer to your device manager for your GPU model-Search YourTube for How-To)

3. For your network and wifi drivers:
First find out your network & wifi make & model modules. Refer to your device manager for this information (Search YourTube for How-To). For example on my Predator Helios 300 (PH315-52) it has a Killer Networking Wifi & Ethernet modules so I download its uninstaller & its driver from Killer Networking official web site. Always try to get the official uninstaller & its drivers from the original manufacturer whenever possible.

4. Once you done all of the above disconnect your internet to prevent Windows 10 from reinstalling drivers that you want removed! Again Search YourTube for How-To. Make sure you have downloaded all needed uninstaller and drivers before disconnecting.

5. Boot into safemode to uninstall all the drivers for the devices mention above (Search YourTube for How-To boot into safe mode):
  i)First run DDU to uninstall Nvidia/Intel/AMD GRAPHICS/GPU drivers. (Search YourTube for How-To)
    -Preferably you do this for one device at a time.
    -For e.g. Once you uninstall the Nvidia GPU driver in safe mode boot back into normal mode to install Nvidia GPU drivers first before moving on to the next device.
    -You can do this in any order (As long as you do it for all the above mention device)
  ii)But I recommend installing the device drivers in the following order but make sure you UNINSTALL the above mention respective device drivers in safe mode FIRST! Then install the device drivers in the following order one device at a time preferably!:
      i.   Nvidia/AMD GPU Drivers-For Nvidia do use custom option and select the clean install option for extra safety.
      ii.  Intel Graphics Drivers.
      iii. Finally for Networking device drivers.
  iii)Again DO NOTE! uninstall each device driver in safe mode FIRST! then boot back into normal mode and install the drivers one device at a time. (Again Search YourTube for How-To)

After doing all this reboot back into normal mode and hope all your issue is solved!

If your problem still persist and you have skip windows update then you can try updating windows as well. Again remember to create a restore point before running windows update. (Search YourTube for How-To)

I did this for my newly purchase Helios 300 2019 and so far it has been stable when playing games like PUBG, Doom, Cuphead, etc...

Worst case scenario is that if all is still not working even after updating the drivers is to perform a factory reset and hopefully it will solve the issue. But make sure you backup everything before doing a factory reset. If this too fails perhaps its a hardware issue and you may have to send it back to acer to fix it.

Hope this helps you as well as others. Also don't forget to update us if you found a solution/workaround so that we could all learn from each other. Good Luck!

archon88

egydiocoelho said:

What is the exact model of your notebook? Example an515-51-75kz. There is firmware available for the nvidia rtx2060 graphics card.

Predator PH317-53

aceerfan said:

You can try updating your drivers/windows which hopefully will help solve your issue:

1. Before you begin make sure you create a restore point. This is a very important! (Search YourTube for How-To)
  -Also important make sure you update Windows 10 to the latest version! (Search YourTube for How-To)
  -You can skip this and try updating your drivers first if you believe your issue is cause by old drivers. if you're unsure then just create a restore point in case anything goes wrong with windows update. (Again search YourTube for How-To)

2. For graphics driver:
  i) Download DDU (Google Display Driver Uninstaller)
  ii) If you have a Nvidia/AMD GPU. Download Nvidia/AMD dirvers from Nvidia official website. (Refer to your device manager for your GPU model-Search YourTube for How-To)
  iii) Download Intel graphics driver from Intel official website (Refer to your device manager for your GPU model-Search YourTube for How-To)

3. For your network and wifi drivers:
First find out your network & wifi make & model modules. Refer to your device manager for this information (Search YourTube for How-To). For example on my Predator Helios 300 (PH315-52) it has a Killer Networking Wifi & Ethernet modules so I download its uninstaller & its driver from Killer Networking official web site. Always try to get the official uninstaller & its drivers from the original manufacturer whenever possible.

4. Once you done all of the above disconnect your internet to prevent Windows 10 from reinstalling drivers that you want removed! Again Search YourTube for How-To. Make sure you have downloaded all needed uninstaller and drivers before disconnecting.

5. Boot into safemode to uninstall all the drivers for the devices mention above (Search YourTube for How-To boot into safe mode):
  i)First run DDU to uninstall Nvidia/Intel/AMD GRAPHICS/GPU drivers. (Search YourTube for How-To)
    -Preferably you do this for one device at a time.
    -For e.g. Once you uninstall the Nvidia GPU driver in safe mode boot back into normal mode to install Nvidia GPU drivers first before moving on to the next device.
    -You can do this in any order (As long as you do it for all the above mention device)
  ii)But I recommend installing the device drivers in the following order but make sure you UNINSTALL the above mention respective device drivers in safe mode FIRST! Then install the device drivers in the following order one device at a time preferably!:
      i.   Nvidia/AMD GPU Drivers-For Nvidia do use custom option and select the clean install option for extra safety.
      ii.  Intel Graphics Drivers.
      iii. Finally for Networking device drivers.
  iii)Again DO NOTE! uninstall each device driver in safe mode FIRST! then boot back into normal mode and install the drivers one device at a time. (Again Search YourTube for How-To)

After doing all this reboot back into normal mode and hope all your issue is solved!

If your problem still persist and you have skip windows update then you can try updating windows as well. Again remember to create a restore point before running windows update. (Search YourTube for How-To)

I did this for my newly purchase Helios 300 2019 and so far it has been stable when playing games like PUBG, Doom, Cuphead, etc...

Worst case scenario is that if all is still not working even after updating the drivers is to perform a factory reset and hopefully it will solve the issue. But make sure you backup everything before doing a factory reset. If this too fails perhaps its a hardware issue and you may have to send it back to acer to fix it.

Hope this helps you as well as others. Also don't forget to update us if you found a solution/workaround so that we could all learn from each other. Good Luck!

I have already reinstalled nvidia drivers, .net etc, but i forgot to reinstall the intel ones, which should not change anything since the game runs on the 2060 but I'll try this and also messing with the in-game settings more. I'll update during the day if I found a solution.

I find it hard to believe that I have a hardware issue as my laptop is running games that are a lot more intensive for hours with no issues.

Commodore_1995#

For some notebook models, acer has released firmware for the rtx2060 video card as well, see: https://www.acer.com/ac/pt/BR/content/support-product/7905?b=1&pn=NH.Q50AA.001

archon88

egydiocoelho said:

For some notebook models, acer has released firmware for the rtx2060 video card as well, see: https://www.acer.com/ac/pt/BR/content/support-product/7905?b=1&pn=NH.Q50AA.001

I've checked that and it does not concern my model.

Commodore_1995#

Have you tried colleague acerefan's tip?

archon88

egydiocoelho said:

Have you tried colleague acerefan's tip?

Yes, I have tried a clean install of all drivers, but I have forgot about the intel ones, I have updated them right now and I will try the game again during the day.

Commodore_1995#

oK! pOST THE RESULT HERE .

Commodore_1995#

Did the rtx 2060 firmware update solve your problem?

archon88

There is no RTX 2060 firmware update for my machine, but it seems like reinstalling intel drviers and disabling multicore rendering in settings allowed me to finish a match succesfully. I will re-enable multicore rendering and narrow it down even further.

archon88

Ok so another weird thing just happend in starcraft 2, game randomly froze and screen went black, tried killing task and restarting game, Graphics device not available..

archon88

Ok so after restarting my computer following that error, when starting up again I got the BSOD indicating the dx error in the first post and screen went black while booting up, I just did a fresh reinstall on literally all the drivers and now I ran an sfc /scannow which is currently stuck at 66% for a while...

archon88

I have also just updated firmware, checked windows updates and pretty much everything again.. I don't know what else to try..

In the case where the black screen does not lead to a BSOD, and I try launching another game, for example ArmA 3 I get an error DXGI_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED and after the error happens, I can still see the graphics card on the nVidia control pannel, but I do not get the choice anymore to launch an application with the nVidia High performance card

archon88

I've decided to run some benchmarks and stress tests, such as intel extreme tuning utility and heaven benchmark, the computer performed all of them with excellent results without even having to put it in turbo/oc mode, all temps below 65*C.. I find this impossible to believe that it is an hardware issue, but I have no other ideas on what else to try..

Commodore_1995#

What is the version of the operating system?

archon88

I a running windows 10 build 18362, also I've narrowed this problem down to some specific games, for the moment StarCraft2 and CS:GO, I have successfully played other games, mostly more modern for hours with no sign of issues.

Commodore_1995#

Have you tried reverting video card drivers to an earlier and more stable version?

archon88

Yes, I have tried that aswell, no success.
Out of frustrations I just did a clean windows reinstall, I am setting up and will try everything again tonight, I have installed all the drivers and stuff given by acer in the support section with newer nVidia ones.
 
Also is there any way to get the stock wallpaper back? I can't seem to find it

Commodore_1995#

Did you reinstall windows using a microsoft iso or the alt + f10 command?

archon88

egydiocoelho said:

Did you reinstall windows using a microsoft iso or the alt + f10 command?

i've used the automatic windows things that prepares the usb key for you